What is the significance of 4 days in Navajo stories?

Answer 1

Just as the number three is common in European stories and religion, the number fouris very important in Navajo stories and philosophy and religion. The Navajo land is seen as bounded by four sacred mountains. Each mountain has a color and gem, time of day, time of year, time of life, gender, a pair of spiritual being that live there, an animal, and a philosophical concept associated with it. In most Navajo stories/art and religion things are in gendered complementary pairs that represent a whole and the pairs are then grouped with at least another pair. Therefore when something occurs over four days it represents all of the possibilities or the whole universe or all time or completeness. One note however, this is just a beginning interpretation. Most Navajo Hataałii (traditional healers and thinkers, literally : Singer) say that there are 12 (4x3 )levels of interpretation for every part of a story or chant or prayer. Also there is no unified "single " answer in Navajo thought so this is just a start at understanding the meaning.